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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

France: Jews fear a new strain of ISIS-inspired anti-Semitism (NYT)

The attack’s bloodthirsty undertones — the deadly blade, the will to decapitate,
the coldness of the would-be killer — continued to stir
unease.

It was the heavy leather-bound volume of the Torah he was
carrying that shielded Benjamin Amsellem from the machete blows.

His
attacker, a teenage fanatic who the police say was inspired by the
Islamic State, was trying to decapitate Mr. Amsellem, a teacher at a
local Jewish school. But Mr. Amsellem used the Torah — the only defense
at hand — to deflect the blade and save himself.

It was the third such knife attack since October on a Jew in Marseille, where the Jewish population, around 70,000, is the second largest in France after Paris. And it was the latest example of how France is confronting both the general threat of terrorism, especially after two large-scale attacks in Paris last year, and a particular strain of anti-Semitism that has left many French Jews deeply unnerved.

“This
was something claimed by an individual who invoked Daesh, who wanted to
kill a Jew. It is extremely serious,” said Marseille’s top police
official, Laurent Nunez, in an interview. “Daesh” is an Arabic acronym
for the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Among
Jews here, the attack on Mr. Amsellem, 35, has been met with a mix of
anger and resignation, a response conditioned by the history of anti-Semitism in France, along with the recognition that global jihadism has made French Jews choice targets. [...]

In
the wake of the attack on Mr. Amsellem, a top community official here
called on Jews to stop wearing skullcaps in public, provoking a furious
backlash from other community leaders in Paris. “It was my duty,” said
the official, Zvi Ammar, who was startled by the outcry. “My only goal
was to preserve human life.”

The
teenager being held for the attack hardly fits the conventional profile
of a radical Islamist: He is a Turkish Kurd, a group at war with the
Islamic State.

The
suspect — whose name is being withheld because of his age — has “very
good marks in school,” said Mr. Amsellem’s lawyer, Fabrice Labi, and
lives with his immigrant family in well-maintained if drab apartments
north of the city center. His father, who brought the family to France
five years ago, is a tile-setter with a solid income. [...]

“It
doesn’t shock us that much,” said Michele Allouche, who lives in the
old downtown neighborhood near the 19th-century synagogue. “We’re
waiting for it. There’s huge anti-Semitism in France.”

But
the attack’s bloodthirsty undertones — the deadly blade, the will to
decapitate, the coldness of the would-be killer — continued to stir
unease.